Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Forgiving Once Again

I recently heard a great illustration of forgiveness. I could do a whole post on what forgiveness is NOT and what it IS....but THAT would be a rabbit trail. The great illustration?

When someone has wronged you, you are like a bank that holds a mortgage. Sometimes the banks will sell that mortgage to another bank. The debtor receives a notice telling him that he is no longer in debt to the original mortgage holder, but to the new bank. He still has a debt, but that debt is payable to the new mortgage holder.

Forgiveness is "selling the debt". That's become a phrase I think of often. When someone unknowingly hurts my feelings, when I have to tell a child something I've said a million times, when Mike misses the laundry hamper with his dirty clothes....."sell the debt"...and believe ME they have ample opportunity to learn the same lesson living with me.

I'm preparing for a Bible Study Workshop that Mike and I will be teaching this weekend. He's asked me to take the lead. I've done many of these workshops in many formats: day long, weekend, 4 week Tuesday a.m. - you get the idea. I'm familiar with the process....but guess what?

This morning as I prepare, I note again the great loss of my OLD BIBLE. It was a New Inductive Study Bible. In MY times of study I'd charted most books of the Bible, written in key words etc.....and when I thought this morning, as I got ready to make the final decision about which book we should use for our hands on exercises,...Titus, Ruth, 2 Thess, Jonah..."Let's see what the main points of each book are." I had a complete brain fart and totally expected to find the books outlined, the chapter themes and key words listed.....but my new Bible is gloriously blank...waiting for me to hit those books again in my times of study.

I have sold that debt.

"Lord, those thieves got a priceless gift. May You allow your Word to
end up where it will be read and appreciated. Your Word won't return void
when it is sent out, regardless of how it was sent. ::snort:: I've sold the debt. It's not my business."

I had a good chuckle when I realized the thieves have a nifty cheat sheet I'd created on the Inductive Study Method which was tucked in my Bible. I found a copy....it doesn't appear to be on my computer.

Yes, I would love your prayers as we prepare for Saturday's day long (0900-1500) workshop.

As for today MOPS, Bible Study and School.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Armstrongs!!! and PWOC!!!

You should have seen the excitement when the kids saw that our packages were from Armstrongs.
From 2010-01-20
I told them it was GRAIN. Stacia said, "MOM - it's Armstrong your friend, your friend."
From 2010-01-20
Deja, you were the hero. I "never" buy Gummy Bears so YOU must have sent these. ::snort:: I'm glad you told me about the sale. I'll have to remember this in the future. ::snort:: You ARE a friend, thanks for helping me out with my grain issues. ::snort::

Did y'all know that PWOC is like Doritos? You can't eat just one? It's true. I slipped. I let my boundaries slide. I've spent most of the past two days solely on PWOC. That would be fine, if that's what I'd scheduled. But it isn't. Pure and simple....I slipped. My heart is to serve my women and be readily accessible. I realize this is a ministry/job that will never be totally "complete," therefore, I need to have boundaries. The very first one is one that I've had for years....but we lost after moving to Japan. We've gotten into the habit of turning the computer on, "for just a bit," to see if family is around to Skype. If the computer's on, I check email, I research...do you see where this is going? I'm simply going to have to discipline myself to stay the course. It's really not a PWOC thing....it's a me thing. I learned this lesson in Alaska.

No lectures needed....lecture has been self-administered. ::snort::

Mike and I went out tonight with our calendars. This was fun. Well.....the talking and eating part; not so much the calendar part.

I took a bunch of photos and ordered a flat daddy.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...